


Immutable object

by AshesandGhost



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Tony has a history okay, it's not a nice history, so um sorry, this is probably super overdone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 21:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1279282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshesandGhost/pseuds/AshesandGhost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony had given up on ever finding anyone who actually liked him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Immutable object

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompt "Marvel, Tony/anyone, he's not a boy that you can change" in the Let's Make Out ficathon. I intended to write smut, not exactly sure how this happened!
> 
> Title is a reference to programming language. "In object-oriented and functional programming, an immutable object is an object whose state cannot be modified after it is created."

Tony had given up on ever finding anyone who actually liked him.

Sure, his many paramours had liked things _about_ him. His money, mostly. Sometimes his brain. Sometimes his looks, though the arc reactor got its share of both nervous glances and overly-eager salivation. But no one had ever liked _him_. Everything about him. The whole, as it were, package. It was always “Oh Tony, I just wish you didn’t spend so much time in the workshop.” or “Oh, Tony, do you have to flirt with _everyone_ , can’t you rein it in a bit?” or “Ugh, Tony, you smell like engine cleaner, do you have to drink so much?” or “Tony, you can’t risk your life like this, I need to know you’re okay, I can’t deal with you almost dying all the time.”

And he tried. Over and over again he tried, to sleep more, to remember to eat, to get out of the workshop more, to put himself in harm’s way less frequently, but after a week or two of really, honestly trying, they’d leave anyway. His best just wasn’t good enough, he was who he was, and at this point, he had thrown in the towel and accepted that fact.

There just wasn’t anyone who would be okay with Tony Stark, the _whole person_. So he slept around, he put on a caustic exterior, and he very firmly and definitely ignored the ridiculous crush he had on one Steven Rogers.

So when that same man responded to Tony’s sarcastic jabs, 56 hour stints in the workshop, manic pacing and rambling, and throwing himself in front of falling walls to protect errant pedestrians with fond half-smiles, quietly camping out on the workshop couch to sketch, and genuine concern, Tony really wasn’t sure how to react.

That is, until Steve brought him a sandwich in one of his workaholic sprints, took one look at Tony in his greasy tank top with his wild hair, made an injured noise in his throat, and kissed Tony like the world was currently in the process of ending again.

For a hot and shining moment, Tony kissed back. He wrapped his arms around Steve’s ridiculous shoulders and pressed into him, kiss deepening into a wet glide as their lips parted. Then his brain kicked back online and he reeled away, holding Steve at arm’s length as the man tried to close the gap again.   
  
“Wait,” he gasped, “wait, wait, Steve, I’m not… I can’t. Steve, I can’t.”

Steve’s went stiff and still, the mouth that had so recently been on Tony’s twisting into a frown.

“I-- oh God, Tony, I’m sorry. I didn’t ask, I meant to-- I was planning to-- but you just, you’re so, so YOU, and I--” He cut himself off, looking down and away. “I’m so sorry. I’ll just--”  
  
Tony gaped at him.

“What?” Steve looked miserable, backed off a few steps and curled in on himself, clearly wanting to run, but Tony had to know what he meant. “What are you talking about, Steve? I’m-- I’m me, yeah. I’m mean and I flirt too much and I drink too much and I do this, this workaholic thing constantly and yeah, that’s me, I can’t change, I’ve tried to change, and I can’t lose you, Steve. Okay? I just, I can’t lose you like the others, I’m sorry, you’re so perfect and I don’t want you to leave, I’m selfish and awful and--”

Steve kissed him again. Hard, and fierce, like a rebuke and a promise in one.

“Don’t.” Steve’s voice was a harsh whisper against Tony’s ear. “Don’t you talk about yourself like you’re _anything_ less than incredible, Tony. I’ve seen you at your worst and at your best and you are… there is _nothing_ I would change about you. Not one God damned thing.” He clutched Tony tighter, then pulled back to look in his eyes, which were huge and vulnerable, filled with unshed tears. “If I was going to leave, I would have left a long time ago. You’re stuck with me.”

Tony’s cheeks were wet when Steve kissed him again, but this time, he didn’t pull away.

 

 


End file.
